Wednesday, June 4, 2014

That animal just turned on you

I'm a huge fan of Harvey Silverglate and his Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. For several decades left-wing academic administrations have been violating the free speech rights of students. Most of these students were attempting to spread conservative messages, and Silverglate warned left-wing censors that they were crafting their own doom.

The union ordered the UCL Nietzsche Club off campus because they say it promotes fascism and racism – even though they don’t know anything about the group.

Concerned students had called for the SU diktat after posters emerged advertising the society under the title “Equality is a false God.”

Although they knew nothing about the society except the 31-word content of the posters, the Union Council banned it from meeting or advertising on campus, accusing it of promoting fascism and racism on campus.

So what if Nietzche's words were twisted nearly a century ago by the national socialists? I see it as a result of misunderstanding his philosophy, and there are plenty of other ways to interpret what he wrote. Nietzsche's words didn't kill anyone and the public deserves the choice of reading them or rejecting them.

It's not too late to cry out in anguish, my left-wing friends.We warned you and assured you that standing up for speech is a virtue unto itself, even when it's speech you disagree with. Some of you stood with us, but many did not. This is what happened.

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of left-wing censorship victims, but this one is especially troubling. If Nietzche is going to be banned from campus, what philosophers are next? What subjects will be banned in turn? Is this the society you want?